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Scottish Parliamentary election campaign 2007
Crime and justice policy in the Party Manifestos
Curious about what the politicians are saying about crime and criminal justice policy in Scotland? Haven't got time to trawl through web sites? As ever we'll try to make it easier for you.
Here are crime and criminal justice policy extracts from the Party manifestos. Links to the source documents are provided on each page.
Election Blog
This is a space in which informed, thoughtful comments and observations about the election, crime and criminal justice are welcome. If you would like to contribute e-mail Mary with a short text that we can upload for you. Alternatively if you want to upload yourself we can create guest access for you
Accountability, community and 'instant asbos'
The Scottish Executive is introducing legislation as it pleases and relatively unchallenged, and the criminal justice landscape is changing - accountabilities and responsibilities are becoming diffuse and unclear. And the constitutional position of chief constable is being weakened by the new roles of SPSA, SCDEA and the HMCIC. Now we have proposals to make prosecutors answerable to communities and introduce a community
body to scrutinise the police in addition to all the other inspections they have to cope with !
The criminal justice section of the Labour Manifesto continues the trend of empowering the community and increasing accountability and scrutiny of the agencies who deliver the service. However, some clarification is required for some of the proposals.
The introduction of a named prosecutor for every area in Scotland who will liaise with and report to local communities in relation to prosecutions in their areas is one such idea. This is a new concept in Scottish criminal justice and needs to be viewed with caution. It is one thing for prosecutors to have a closer relationship with the police, as has been happening in recent years but to place prosecutors in the position of being influenced by community pressure on a regular basis is another thing and could impact on their traditional independence.
Other propositions with a communitarian flavour include - community courts, expanded community service, community enforcement officers, and additional community wardens.
Also, in addition to the many inspection agencies the police have to deal with at present, a new statutory body will be introduced into local communities with the responsibility for reducing crime. How all this impacts on the role of the police officer and the position of chief constable is yet to be seen and it will be interesting to see how these suggestions are implemented.
Lastly, and not included in the official manifesto is the announcement by the Justice Minister on 16 April 2007 that if they are returned to government the police will be given the power to issue ‘instant Asbos’ against offenders without having to go to court. These powers will be called Community Protection Orders and will be another tool to be given to the proposed new ‘community police teams’ for every community area. These Orders will allow the police to set up exclusion zones and curfews at their discretion. This road to ever increasing community empowerment and responsibility for their own policing and crime prevention is in essence the true definition of a ‘community’. However, it does beg the question of what the final model will look like at the end destination and who will be overall accountable for policing and crime reduction. As a comment from the manifesto declares “fighting crime and creating safer communities is not just for the police” – the answer is certainly not in the detail.
Posted by Daniel Donnelly on Thu 19th Apr 2007 at 10:34 am • Permalink • Tell-a-Friend
Tough on crime?
It feels like a quiet election for crime and justice so far. Certainly until Monday this week the Tories’ decision to give crime such a high priority seemed a little anachronistic and indicative of a Party that was running out of ideas and new things to say.
However, with the publication of their Manifestos out of the way, the other main Parties have been playing catch up. Labour, predictably, seems to fousing on antisocial behaviour and ways of responding to it that short circuit the legal system and get around the problem of local government’s general reluctance to embrace antisocial behaviour remedies with the same enthusisam as their Holyrood counterparts. What still no parenting orders?
That’s on a national level.
How reassuring to see therefore that the candidates’ leaflets are still pressing the same buttons, the same tired playground speak of how we are tough and the others ain’t.
This blog is an attempt to accumulate some informed observations and reflections scanning the horizon, and hopefully being a little bit creative and a little bit wise. So if you have something to say just get in touch (see the heading above for how to do so).
Posted by MM on Thu 19th Apr 2007 at 8:43 am • Permalink • Tell-a-Friend
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